


the red string of fate ties me to you

by jilyspotter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, dorks falling in love, lots and lots of fluff, maybe some angst? who knows, multi chap fic, probably not canon compliant at all, we shall see
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-11-21 23:14:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11367639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jilyspotter/pseuds/jilyspotter
Summary: James Potter believed in soulmates fervently.Lily Evans thought that soulmates weren't all they were cracked up to be.The soulmate universe was a complicated one, but somehow it was simple: love is love, no matter what form.





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first work on ao3!

The universe in which soulmates had a red string tied around their little finger was a funny one. People met their soulmates after a chance encounter at a nightclub, or on a crowded street rushing into work. Sometimes you didn’t meet your soulmate. They could die (and the end of the string, when snapped, reverberated into your soul, because that was how you knew the person made to love you had gone, and every day you would ask yourself “is it my fault?”), or they could walk away without ever feeling that once-in-a-lifetime tightening of the string, and the gold glowing when you are just about to meet each other, which happened when two soulmates were within a 5 metre radius. Unrequited soulmates were the worst, because your string was black and everyone looked at you with so much pity in their eyes you thought you would drown. Fortunately, they were rare. Not a lot rarer than people without soulmates, though. Those people had no red string attached to their left pinkie finger and no black string, destined to be alone until perhaps another lost soul joined theirs in harmony. However, that love was a superficial kind, for a soulmate was the only true way to eros.

James Potter believed in soulmates fervently. Sirius had already met his (it was Remus), a kind of sick joke since his two best friends were perfect for each other. He was happy for Sirius and Remus, of course he was. But the universe was playing tricks on him, it seemed. They had admitted to James separately that they had both been sceptical of true love before meeting each other. It felt like a sick joke when he would wake up from nightmares about having a black string, or worse – not having one at all – only to find that in the dark, the blood red string was nearly invisible. He would wake, blink a few times and stumble out of bed into Sirius’ and Remus’ room, where they would cuddle but spring up at the first sign of James, knowing that reassurance was all he needed.

Lily Evans thought that soulmates weren’t all they were cracked up to be. Yes, Alice and Frank Longbottom had gotten married after only a month together, and yes, Marlene and Dorcas had both met their soulmates and were happy as can be, but she had seen firsthand the devastation caused when your soulmate left you. Behind the leaving there was a trail of endless questions, and in front of the left there was a never-ending well of sorrow and anger, of ‘why’, of ‘what did i do wrong’, of ‘what happened’?  
But there were never any answers, because they never came back.

Perhaps a chance meeting would be all these two would ever get, but probably not – it was far too important for them to meet.


	2. chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lily and james meet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm back at school! sorry this hasn't been put up sooner, i wrote it today and it is not my greatest work. (i need to figure out some sort of plot, oops). hopefully now i'm back i will be using my computer a lot more, meaning i can write more!!

They first met on a Tuesday afternoon, on a rainy day in the middle of winter. It was in fact 17th November 1981, and they would forever remember that day as the day everything changed.

***

Remus and Sirius had met two years prior, in June 1979, when James had decided to introduce them, his two best friends. It was a beautiful thing, really, to witness two soulmates meeting for the first time, but James couldn’t help but be a tad bitter that he had helped this into being – the most loving relationship he had ever seen, aside from his parents (still disgusting, always disgusting).

Alice and Frank had met when they were still in school, at sixth form – September 1977. Lily loved them, but sometimes found their displays of affection quite sickening. She didn’t believe in the whole ‘soulmate’ ideal, but if there ever were two people more in love than Alice and Frank, she would willingly give all her possessions over to them.

Mary, Marlene and Dorcas would all find their soulmates after the inevitable meeting of Lily and James, in the respective order of Reginald, Emmeline and John.

Peter Pettigrew was one of the chosen few who did not have a soulmate, and although he tried to hide it, he would eventually make a decision that would make him question everything.

Severus Snape thought he was in love with Lily Evans, but he was not – it was merely an infatuation, an obsession, if you will. This caused him to turn away his soulmate, to reject her and therefore spin her into a deep dark hole of depression and mistrust of anyone.

But, enough about the others – this story is a tale of hope, of anger, of trust and of broken things, but most importantly, a tale of love. Lily Evans and James Potter were in love, and this is the story of how that came to fruition. 

***

On a rainy Tuesday in the line for a pumpkin spice latte (what? she liked the smell!), Lily Evans met her soulmate. She had been told so many times that when you met your soulmate, your string started to glow a faint gold colour, and then almost burn everyone’s eyes because it was so bright. The glowing was then accompanied by an insistent tugging in your stomach, which pulled you to your designated mate-for-life. Lily didn’t think she’d ever feel it, or at least there would be something wrong with her soulmate – maybe they just wouldn’t match up, like Severus’ parents, or maybe that tell-tale glow would never come, and she would be alone forever. Oh, how she was wrong.  
James Potter almost never went to Starbucks, but he was running late for a meeting and this was the most plausible excuse to be late – he was in line for a coffee, and the suddenly the machine broke, so he had to wait in line at the nearest Starbucks. That would be what he told everyone, but he secretly just wanted a big burst of sugar before a meeting that would surely put him to sleep.  
They were next to each other in the queue, and suddenly they felt a strong tugging in their stomachs towards each other. They lurched forward, like someone was pulling their navels together. Then, the strangest thing happened – their strings started to glow – bright, like really really bright, like cover-your-eyes-before-they-melt bright.  
Oh.  
They were soulmates.

*

After getting his coffee (what! A man needs his caffeine!), James Potter gestured to his soulmate! to sit down in a corner away from prying eyes – after all, soulmates meeting wasn’t something you saw every day. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen – of course, James may be a little biased – with lovely thick red hair, a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her button nose, and striking emerald eyes that glinted in the sunlight. 

*

Lily thought she must be the luckiest woman in the whole of the Starbucks on the corner of Covent Garden. She had met her soulmate, and a handsome one at that! He had slightly oversized glasses that framed his hazel eyes and long luscious eyelashes (how was that fair???), and black hair that looked so soft she just wanted to run her hands through it. She restrained herself, however, thinking that he would be weirded out and would never want to see her, which would be a shame.

*

“What’s your name? Mine’s James, James Potter. ”  
He was nervous, more nervous then he had ever been in his whole 20 years of life. His hands were sweating and he thought that maybe, just maybe, he could –   
“Lily Evans, at your service.”  
Wow. Lily was a pretty name.   
It suited her.

*

Lily thought it was a miracle that she hadn’t stuttered in front of him – well, James actually! – because he was an insane physical specimen, with a tight-fitting white shirt and a skinny tie. Lily had a weakness for people in suits, especially her soulmate!, wearing a black (and very form-fitting) suit. She silently thanked the gods above that he was wearing that ensemble.

*

They started to talk. Their names, ages, studies, siblings (and situations – Petunia was brilliant, and Sirius was brilliant too), hopes, dreams, fears, aspirations, futures, all of that, and more. It felt like they had known each other all their lives. James was falling a little bit in love with Lily’s eyes, the way they sparkled and danced when she was truly passionate about something. Lily was falling a little bit in love with James’ smile and the way his lips quirked upwards every time he finished speaking, probably unaware he was doing so.

*

It felt like they had known each other for years, the way the conversation flowed – it never stopped. When one stopped, unsure if they were rambling too much, the other jumped in straight away, with another point to make. They sat there for the entirety of the day, just talking – even Sirius’ angry texts about James missing his meeting were ignored. Anyway, he would understand. When you met your soulmate, all you wanted to do was talk. Meetings had been postponed before because of soulmates; surely they could do it once more. 

*

It turned out that they only lived 5 minutes away from each other (on the Tube), and with a parting promise to meet up tomorrow, the two lovebirds (or potential ones, anyway) were kicked out of the Covent Garden Starbucks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i need to write more rip


End file.
